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Faune et flore de Madagascar

Since 2000’s, only few scientists were interested in these 300 kms of coastline without road access between Nosy Be and Antonibe. The discovery of the blue eyes lemur by a ‘lost’ biologist” in 2003 suddenly brought the interest of the scientist to this area.

Many scientific missions occurred between 2004 and 2010. The results of these assessments are impressive: biologists find, only after one hour of testing per site on the reefs surrounding the Radama Islands, 80% more varieties of corals and 120% more varieties of fishes from the most beautiful sites of reference in the world. Moreover in 2008 a new species of nocturnal lemur was discovered in addition to new varieties of lizards and frogs (2014).

The discovery of an ever observed living cetacean in 2014, the whale of Omura, had the real effect of a bomb (discovered originally by three Japanese researchers from remains found in 2003) due to the exceptional fact that the whale lives safely all the yearlong in Nosy Be area. The scientists also discovered a species of mahogany which had disappeared since 1836 and re appeared in the scientist eyes in 2010, just 40 kms of the South of Nosy Be in the form of a giant over 200 years, 1.50 meter in diameter and 35 m high…

Suddenly, the dreams of discoveries of new varieties and species excited many scientists. So the urgency of preservation became essential for the actors of the sector. Several small reserves were created in partnership with NGO: the Antsahamalaza Park in Radama region, and the entire of our coastal region, both land and marine became an official reserve between 2010 and 2014.

Flora, in North of the Radama Islands is wet tropical with lots of green, sometimes giving to the mountainous hills a look of “broccoli’s forest”. Endemic plant (species only found in this place) is close to 85%. However, the South of the Radama Islands is a dry tropical universe where is growing a very different forest (this is where blue-eyes lemurs live). This forest became more and more densified in the South of our region, in the universe of the tsingys (fossil corals of several millions of years) on which grows a sanctuary plant between exceptional baobabs, pachypodiums, and other weird plants (endemic plant is close to 100 %!).

At last, it is worth to emphasize that apart from the fascinating scenery of this amazing region, most of the plants encountered, if discreet either, don’t exist anywhere else.

The fauna of our region is represented by 8 species of lemurs, several dozens of species of birds, on which 60% are endemic to Madagascar, many reptiles, some of them are not yet listed, insects in all genres, more varieties of fish and corals than in most other places of the world.